The Adirondack Park- A Natural Treasure
by Lillian Zemba
One of the most challenging struggles in trying to live sustainable is finding the balance between development and conservation. Our general approach to conservation is to take a piece of land and allow limited or no development to occur, like with our National Parks system. The disadvantage to taking this approach is that it reduces it to something that people visit, but are mostly detached from. This results in complete detachment from nature, with people considering it to be something far away from their normal lives. This is clearly not a sustainable form of conservation, we must find ways for humans coexist with nature. The Adirondack Park works as a model for this type of sustainability.
The Adirondack Park was formed in 1892 in response to concerns of deforestation. The park covers 6.1 million acres, which is about the same size as the state of Vermont. It is used for countless recreational activities, such as camping, fishing, hiking, and boating and is also the full-time home of over 100,000 people.
The park is unique in that it is split between public and private land. The publicly owned section of the park (about 40% of the land) is maintained by New York State’s Department of Environmental Conservation Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). The DEC has chosen to make that land “forever wild”, meaning no development is allowed (including roads). However, the privately owned land is subject to a different set of rules. The privately owned land is split into different zones, which dictates how many buildings are allowed within a given area. So for example, an area classified as “Hamlet” (town) can have unlimited development, whereas one with the classification of “Low Intensity Use” is only allowed one building every 500 square miles. These zones are organized so that the towns are the most populous areas, and the density of the population lessens as one gets further and further away from the towns.
The general organization of the park results in a wide variety of groups who have a stake in the protection and development of the land. There are often competing interests, for example, the residents of the park often advocate for development, while outside environmental groups advocate for conservation. This system, while it results in some tension between competing interests, ultimately allows for a balance within the park.
The Adirondack Park is definitely a good model of how conservation can be achieved, however it cannot easily be replicated. The park was formed before most of New York State was developed, so the area was still mostly open to planning. Our country is much more developed now, so using this model may not work for conservation purposes, though it is possible it could be used at least to prevent over-development.
In the southeastern US, recent studies have found that urban areas are expanding in such a way that if development trends continue, a stretch of urban development could run from Raleigh to Atlanta. This could create huge habitat fragmentation issues, as well as urban heat islands. Using a development plan similar to the Adirondack Park’s is a possible way to combat the issues that would occur with this development. By limiting development between cities, we could potentially limit habitat fragmentation and prevent biodiversity loss.
The Adirondack Park is a unique example of successful conservation. It has sustained itself over time to become a great example of balance between humans and nature. While it's too late to use the exact model of the Adirondack Park in other places, we should use the Adirondack philosophy to try to coexist with nature instead of completely separating ourselves from it.
[Photo, The Top of Giant, by Nick Welles licensed by CC BY-NC-ND 2.0]
by Lillian Zemba
One of the most challenging struggles in trying to live sustainable is finding the balance between development and conservation. Our general approach to conservation is to take a piece of land and allow limited or no development to occur, like with our National Parks system. The disadvantage to taking this approach is that it reduces it to something that people visit, but are mostly detached from. This results in complete detachment from nature, with people considering it to be something far away from their normal lives. This is clearly not a sustainable form of conservation, we must find ways for humans coexist with nature. The Adirondack Park works as a model for this type of sustainability.
The Adirondack Park was formed in 1892 in response to concerns of deforestation. The park covers 6.1 million acres, which is about the same size as the state of Vermont. It is used for countless recreational activities, such as camping, fishing, hiking, and boating and is also the full-time home of over 100,000 people.
The park is unique in that it is split between public and private land. The publicly owned section of the park (about 40% of the land) is maintained by New York State’s Department of Environmental Conservation Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). The DEC has chosen to make that land “forever wild”, meaning no development is allowed (including roads). However, the privately owned land is subject to a different set of rules. The privately owned land is split into different zones, which dictates how many buildings are allowed within a given area. So for example, an area classified as “Hamlet” (town) can have unlimited development, whereas one with the classification of “Low Intensity Use” is only allowed one building every 500 square miles. These zones are organized so that the towns are the most populous areas, and the density of the population lessens as one gets further and further away from the towns.
The general organization of the park results in a wide variety of groups who have a stake in the protection and development of the land. There are often competing interests, for example, the residents of the park often advocate for development, while outside environmental groups advocate for conservation. This system, while it results in some tension between competing interests, ultimately allows for a balance within the park.
The Adirondack Park is definitely a good model of how conservation can be achieved, however it cannot easily be replicated. The park was formed before most of New York State was developed, so the area was still mostly open to planning. Our country is much more developed now, so using this model may not work for conservation purposes, though it is possible it could be used at least to prevent over-development.
In the southeastern US, recent studies have found that urban areas are expanding in such a way that if development trends continue, a stretch of urban development could run from Raleigh to Atlanta. This could create huge habitat fragmentation issues, as well as urban heat islands. Using a development plan similar to the Adirondack Park’s is a possible way to combat the issues that would occur with this development. By limiting development between cities, we could potentially limit habitat fragmentation and prevent biodiversity loss.
The Adirondack Park is a unique example of successful conservation. It has sustained itself over time to become a great example of balance between humans and nature. While it's too late to use the exact model of the Adirondack Park in other places, we should use the Adirondack philosophy to try to coexist with nature instead of completely separating ourselves from it.
[Photo, The Top of Giant, by Nick Welles licensed by CC BY-NC-ND 2.0]